Roof, roof! (and other bits of progress)

 OK, it _still_ a really bad dad joke, but that's where we are. The roof is more or less installed.  There are
some spots that I need to go back and countersink screws - edge grain of plywood has slightly better zero holding power, especially for staples.  And there were a couple of interesting 'learnings' - like the fact that the point at which a 5 foot sheet lands on the inside of a frame is very different from where it lands on the outside - didn't take that into account...

The last was fairly easy to address - the end of the panel was in a relatively flat spot and right in the middle between frames, so I added a 1/2 inch doubler and screwed both sheets into that - worked just fine.  I also used Weldwood III instead of my normal II in order to gain a little more work time - we've gone from too cold to nearly too warm in the matter of a week.  

The other project of the week has been the hatch.  I'm still not convinced it's right, but I'm going to run with it for the moment.  There are a few 'fit and finish items that I think might be improved upon.  BTW, you can see the green 'lunch counter' through the hatch.

The hatch is seven 3/4'' ACX ply ribs with basswood stringers, a 4¨ oak top plate, and a 3/4¨ oak sill plate. The former will provide strength for the hinge, and the sill plate should be strong enough to latch through.  

The sides will go on this week, weather permitting.  My plan is to position the side, add a few screws for a 'ledge, and then roll on a good coat of contact cement - press it on and pressure roll it into place.  

Baahh, baahh!!!

 Big week on the build.  As of tonight, blocking between spars is complete, insulation is installed on the ceiling, the roof has been kerfed, wiring has been run for lights, the fan, switches, interior lighting has been installed, and I've finally got a decent layout for the electrical system!

After a lot of thought, a bit of research, and a strong desire not to cut and kerf a bunch of pink foam, I decided to go with Havelock wool insulation.  Havelock sells a box of 100 sq ft for $150 plus shipping, which when you add up the cost of foam board (~$100), the amount of time spent cutting and kerfing the foam, I'll do without the extra 2 points of R value on the foam, and not buy a couple of beers to pay for the difference.  

This went in easy - the wool is in 4 ft x 16 in x 2 in batts, and it's simple to cut with a good pair of scissors.  Since my spars are spaced 8¨ apart for the most part, and the stringers are roughly 24 inches from the side, this was a pretty quick task.

Blocking is screwed in - pocket screws up front ensure I could screw the AC duct in line with it, and mostly end screwed through the spars on the back side.  Either will provide some rigidity for the roof when it goes on next week.

The other big item was wiring.  I wish I could say that I had a carefully drawn schematic with everything perfectly labeled and annotated.  But I don't yet - it's basically a napkin sketch and even there I made some flying changes that haven't quite gotten committed to paper - yet.  In fact those lovely yellow wires - I'm sure they will be for something, but at this point I've no idea what.  They will terminate to the 3rd switch at each door and home-run back to the load center for some purpose to be determined at a later date.  

This is a great time to talk about my new favorite thing to come out of this project.  I thought it was the Kreg pocket hole system, but I was wrong...
It's Wago connectors!!! The irony is that in another lifetime I used to sell thousands of Wago terminal blocks, but had never stumbled across these gems - the ultimate replacement for wire nuts and butt splices.  The connectors have a lever that you open, slide in the wire to the stop, and close the lever.  It's that simple.  No guessing about whether you have a solid crimp, and definitely no question about whether the wire nut bit all three wires.  

The connectors probably saved me an hour or more on the wiring, especially since they can be opened and closed multiple times, which is very handy when you are trying to keep wires sorted into runs, and they do get entangled.

    absolutely amazing!!!